Artem Fyodorov

Name: Artem Sergeyevich Fyodorov

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12th

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Writing, reading, horror movies and video games, the occult, anime, gothic rock

Appearance: Artem stands at 5’6” and weighs 124 pounds; combined with his hair and features, his slight figure regularly results in him being mistaken for a girl. He is extremely pale and burns very quickly in the sun, to a degree where he regularly wears sunblock on his face and neck even when he isn’t planning to be out for long.

Artem’s hair is naturally a very pale blond and perfectly straight, hitting his mid-back. His eyebrows are thin and significantly darker than the rest of his hair, and his eyelashes match them. His face is long and oval-shaped, matched by a Greek nose with a long bridge and even lips; his features have soft edges, lending toward his feminine appearance. His eyes are upturned, slightly hooded, and light blue in color. He very occasionally wears eyeliner, usually applied by one of his female friends, but for the most part wears no makeup.

Artem has a strong preference for a romantic goth aesthetic in his clothing, but due to a lack of personal funds he is rarely able to dress exactly how he pleases. Much of his clothing comes from hand-me-downs from his older brother, whose fashion preferences are fairly similar to Artem’s own, but because his brother is significantly taller and larger than him, his clothes often look quite awkward on Artem. With the help of a friend he has modified many of his brother’s pieces to better fit him. Rarely he will wear more normal clothes, though he tries to at least wear mostly black at all times. Even when wearing more normal clothing, he generally wears a pair of black boots, with his well-worn favorite pair being platforms. He owns a few pieces that he saved up for or that were bought or made for him by friends, and these are the pieces Artem loves and wears most often.

On the day of the abduction, Artem was wearing a crushed velvet burgundy jacket with silver buttons, a black button-down shirt, black slacks, his favorite pair of black platform boots, and a black choker with a silver skull on it.

Biography: Artem was born on October 13th, 1999 to Sergey and Svetlana Fyodorov. The pair, along with their five-year-old son Maksim, were finalizing their immigration from Omsk, Russia to Chattanooga when Svetlana realized she was pregnant. The family was moving to support Sergey’s brother, Vitaly, who had been living in the US for over twenty years on his own and was struggling financially. The family was accepted into the states on the back of Sergey’s world-class talent as a chemical engineer, which allowed him to quickly find a job when they arrived in Chattanooga. They stayed with Vitaly for a time as he got back on his feet, with Sergey’s salary keeping all four of them afloat alongside Vitaly’s meager contributions from his warehouse jobs. After a few months, with Svetlana at this point heavily pregnant and unable to work, Vitaly was promoted and finally in a stable enough position to take care of himself. Sergey used his saved wages to move his wife and son into a small apartment, mere weeks before his second son was born.

Artem grew up speaking two languages. His father was bilingual but his mother’s English was rudimentary at best, so he and his brother primarily spoke Russian in the house. Artem started reading at a very young age, picking up the basics by the time he was four, though only in Russian. His selection of books was limited, but he loved reading from the moment he was able, spending most of his time doing so. Svetlana, who had always been a protective, hovering mother toward both of her sons, chose to not sent Artem to pre-kindergarten, and sent him to kindergarten a year late, as his late birthday allowed him to be enrolled in 2005, the year he turned 6. Reading was one of the few ways he had to entertain himself, and was how he spent most of his time before beginning his formal education. Between his late start to school, his relative lack of external contact before then, and his parents’ strong accents and preference for speaking Russian, Artem’s own English became noticeably accented. His accent would soften over the years and become less noticeable, but would never leave his voice completely. He also took some time to become comfortable speaking and later reading in English, and required special attention from his teachers for his first few years of schooling to adapt. Once his grasp on English strengthened, he became even more of a voracious reader, as he was no longer limited to the small collection of Russian children’s books his parents had.

Artem’s lack of socialization prior to beginning elementary school led to difficulty making friends there. His accent made him difficult for children his age to understand at first. This only deepened Artem's fondness for his books, which had been his most constant companion, and he quickly came to prefer reading to the company of his peers, which only made them ignore him more. His closest friend was always his older brother, Max, who was just starting junior high when Artem started school. Max was always extremely protective of Artem, as he was always loud, large and boisterous compared to his small and quiet brother, and in return Artem was totally devoted to him. He parroted everything his older brother did, always wanting to play the games his brother played and watch the movies his brother watched, and despite their parents’ disapproval Max would let Artem play and watch things with him that were clearly above his age level. Max’s tastes started running toward horror when approached adolescence, and so Artem happily followed him, eating up PG-13 and even R-rated horror films without flinching, though also without really understanding them. He’d come back to these films and to the games they played together over and over again over the years, slowly gaining a greater appreciation for them as he got older.

Artem made his first real friend outside of his brother in the second grade, when he met Dolly Upton. The two of them bonded over their mutual love of reading and primarily spent their time together sitting side by side, reading. As the first person who showed any interest in him, Artem stuck to her like glue through their time together at school. As he got older his taste in reading material was influenced both by the games and movies his brother showed him as well as his friendship with Dolly, and he started diving into various forms of gothic fiction, starting with children’s and young adult literature influenced by gothic themes before starting on more adult novels, often far above his age range. He had always been particularly drawn to stories about ways the world was secretly different than the one he had come to know. He came to especially love stories regarding the supernatural, whether that be vampires, ghosts or demons, and when he eventually began to write his own stories that was the theme he most often brought to his own work.

Max was always more athletically than academically inclined, and while their parents were proud of his achievements playing football they were putting their hopes in Artem, that he’d be academically successful enough to follow Sergey into chemical engineering. It became clear after Artem worked through his initial difficulties with English that he was a gifted student, particularly in reading and, later, writing, though he did well in all subjects. He worked hard to keep up the straight As he would maintain through high school, often foregoing sleep in favor of having time to both study and pursue leisure activities and drinking a lot of black coffee to compensate. Though Artem was happy to agree to what his parents wanted from him when he was young, as he grew it was clear to him that what he truly wanted was to be a writer. Books were so important to him growing up, and writing so enjoyable to him, that it seemed like an obvious path. But to make his parents happy he continues to work toward an eventual career in chemical engineering, hoping to one day find the courage to go against their wishes.

As he got older Max fell in with a crowd that shared his taste in movies and games and began to imitate their tastes in fashion and music as well. Bands like the Cure and Joy Division became a staple in both Max’s wardrobe in t-shirt form and in his music library. Artem fell in love with the music immediately, and would eventually branch out to find more bands he loved, as he would come to prefer a somewhat softer style in rock as compared to his brother.

Artem also begged his parents to allow him to dress like Max did. Svetlana in particular had indulged Max’s tastes in media up until now, but balked at buying him the gothic-styled clothing he had come to prefer; she spoiled Max with a generous allowance, however, and so Max stocked his wardrobe himself with that money and with the money he made at his part-time job when he started high school. Artem wasn’t able to buy clothes himself, and Svetlana refused to indulge him, saying he was too young, but Max gifted him some small additions to his wardrobe, such as t-shirts for the bands he’d become interested in and bracelets decorated with skulls or bats, to Artem’s delight. As he got older he would become the recipient of many of Max’s old hand-me-downs, which helped him keep to his aesthetic. His older brother was far bigger than him and many of his hand-me-downs were far too big, but with Dolly’s help he was able to modify some of his things to fit more properly. Much like with his taste in music, his taste in clothing diverged from his brother’s over time; his own style was influenced by the novels he loved and he came to prefer the romantic goth look over the traditional goth look his brother wears. Due to his limited budget and wardrobe, he cannot always embody that fashion as thoroughly as he would like, but he always makes an effort to at least wear mostly black at all times.

As Artem entered adolescence and his brother prepared for college, their family hit some financial difficulties. Svetlana did not work, but the family made a decent middle-class living off of Sergey’s lucrative job. However, it was around this time that Vitaly lost his job, and Sergey, wishing to support his brother, let him move into their house. He slept on the couch and made limited efforts to get a job or make any effort to pay his brother back, and while the Fyodorov family wasn’t endangered by this leech on their funds, it did make money much tighter for them. Artem was not spoiled as a teenager the way that Max was, as his parents could not afford to give him much pocket money. More importantly to Artem, Vitaly drove a wedge between Svetlana and Sergey, causing tension in their relationship that had never been there before. This increased Artem’s need to keep his parents happy, never wanting to become another source of tension for them. He doubled down on studying, leading to his current academic habits and his resignation to a future in chemical engineering.

Adolescence brought other changes to Artem’s life as well. After Max left for college he found himself developing his own identity as his tastes started to diverge from his brother’s. He also found new interests, particularly influenced by Dolly, who acquired a taste for the occult, which appealed to his morbid sensibilities. The pair would often play around with things like tarot and ouija boards, never taking it particularly seriously but enjoying themselves all the same. Artem has no strong spiritual or religious beliefs of his own but would like to be proven wrong, and approaches the occult with that mindset. While fashion was never something he’d consider a hobby, it became a major part of his life regardless through Dolly; he became a willing model for her when she needed him. He became somewhat knowledgeable about the subject despite his lack of personal interest, and he enjoys hearing Dolly speak about it.

It was also around this time that Artem began to realize his feelings for Dolly weren’t entirely platonic. In general he began to realize he found girls attractive around this time, though he never made any effort to pursue any romantic relationship and kept quiet whenever he developed a crush. He would always tell Dolly about his feelings and she would encourage them, but he never told her how he felt about her, and those feelings overwhelmed any desire he had to be with anyone else. He realized over time that his feelings were not limited to girls. While he is usually more interested in girls and the boys he does find attractive are more feminine, those feelings have been persistent enough that he identifies as bisexual. He has not told anyone except Dolly, though if someone asked directly he would readily admit it. Since sex and romance plays little role in his life, he doesn’t see much of a point in dwelling on his sexuality and doesn’t discuss it often.

High school was where Artem finally broadened his friend circle outside of just Dolly, as with her encouragement he joined a number of clubs and finally began to meet more people who shared his interests. Artem tends to come across as quiet and almost standoffish to people who don’t know him, and he is loathe to speak to people he doesn’t know in most circumstances. In clubs, however, he knew the people there liked the same things that he did, and he felt more able to speak and could talk at length about the media he loved, though always somewhat timidly. It was on a whim that he decided one day to check out the anime club, despite having no prior interest in anime; the club happened to be watching Tokyo Ghoul that day, and he loved it immediately. It was at that meeting that he was dragged into an animated discussion with Jordan Brankovich, a girl who, over the course of high school, would become his second best friend, and introduce him to a whole new group of people. Through his increase in interactions with others Artem has grown more relaxed in recent years among others, though he still speaks quietly and becomes anxious quickly; he prefers the company of his close friends, especially one on one or in small groups, and finds large groups very overwhelming. The only thing he has found that helps to calm his anxiety is marijuana, something else that Dolly introduced to him and which he, unlike her, has taken to smoking fairly regularly. He smokes alone when he needs to relax or when brainstorming on a story he wants to write, but he prefers to smoke with friends, getting high and watching campy horror films or messing around with a ouija board.

To the outside world, Artem is a quiet boy, who despite his height and feminine appearance can seem almost intimidating due to his manner of dress and his hobbies. Around his friends, however, he is a clever, witty individual with a dry and morbid sense of humor developed over the years from his taste in media. He prefers to choose his moments to speak carefully, but nearly always has a well-formed quip in mind when he does. He struggles with anxiety and the large amount of stress he carries from his academic workload, but he keeps most of this to himself with Dolly as his only real outlet. It is around her that he can be his most animated and emotional, and most people he knows would barely recognize the way he is when the two of them are together. In the coming fall Artem plans to attend Columbia University in New York City, pursuing a degree in chemical engineering, both because he wants to attend a prestigious school to make his parents happy, and because he wishes to stay as close as he can to Dolly.

Advantages: Artem is quite intelligent and tends to think through things rather than jump into them, possibly saving him from some difficult situations. He has a small group of close friends who would make good potential allies.

Disadvantages: Artem is a small boy with no physical conditioning whatsoever and would have next to no chance in a physical fight. His demeanor may potentially alienate him from potential allies, as he has a hard time communicating with people he doesn't know well and might come across as a difficult person to ally with.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Artem, in chronological order.

The Past: V7 Pregame: Prom: V7 Meanwhile:
 * славянский души
 * The Noble Eavesdropper
 * The Lovers Arcana
 * Lost Souls
 * Sweetest Lie (Content Warning)
 * The Tell-Tale Heart
 * The Black Cat

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Artem Fyodorov. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''